Rory McIlroy given food for thought as Tommy Fleetwood speaks out after harsh comments

Tommy Fleetwood has spoke up for Rory McIlroy after the Northern Irishman’s self-critique over his own ‘poor’ performance. McIlroy is widely regarded as one of the best golfers of his generation, but the 35-year-old has now gone 10 years without winning a major title.

He did, however, finish second at this year’s US Open, narrowly missing out in top spot to Bryson DeChambeau after missing a couple of short putts in the closing stages. Speaking ahead of this week’s season-ending event in Dubai, McIlroy admitted technical inconsistencies have cost him dearly, and even scuppered his chances of ending his decade-long wait for a major championship

Reacting to his Ryder Cup team-mate’s admission, 33-year-old Fleetwood asserted that McIlroy has, in reality, had a remarkable year, and highlighted how he consistently found himself in the mix at the business end of the tournaments he entered. “I think Rory has had a great year,” he said.

“Of course, I think it’s easy for everyone to look at what could have happened if things go a little different way. But at the same time, you only get to talk about those things if he is consistently up there with a chance of winning week-in, week-out.
“If I look at my year, the one thing that I would criticise myself on is the fact that I’ve had these chances to win,” he told reporters. “But then when I’ve had these chances to win, okay, some may have been because of the putter, but others have been because of my ball-striking, which let me down as a crucial point. I think just trying to clean all that up so that whenever I do get under that pressure, you know, I can have a hundred per cent trust in my swing and know what’s going to happen.”